Discussion thread here. RP Thread here.

Though there are many theories and philosophies, nobody can really say for sure what happens when you die. Well, except for you.

First, you go to Purgatory. You walk around in the emptiness as a shambling skeleton, waiting in line for all eternity. You have no idea how long you've been waiting. It could be hours, it could be weeks, it could be years or centuries. It was certainly long enough for you to forget most of your life. All you know is waiting.

That is, until they call your name. You don't know how you even remember your name. Maybe you don't - maybe you entirely forgot about it until they called it. You really just can't be sure.

You're put on trial. The Jury goes over every aspect of your life, in private. A life you don't remember, and they do not deign to tell you.

You're sent to the Hall of Judgement. There, you find yourself gathered with a group of ragtag misfits just like yourself. You can feel your body again. You start to have a tiny bit of a semblance of who you were.

You feel your sins crawling on your back.

The Judge - A large, shirtless man with the head of a jackal, enters, and judges your worth by weighing your sins. If you pass; you will move on to Heaven and live eternity in Bliss. If you fail, you will be sent to the Fields of Punishment to suffer forever.

You fail. Every last one of you fails.

But the Judge makes you an offer you can't refuse. You can prove your worth and redeem yourself if you best him at a game. A true test of strength and wit, that will challenge not only your skills but who you are as a person, or at least, who you thought you were.

Do you accept?

The Rules

So, this is a bit of a reboot of an old game I hosted a long while back. If you played it before you might remember a particular set of rules involved with it - I've decided to make this one more freeform, to allow for more direct player interaction and lighten the workload on myself. That said, as far as lore goes, it's still the same. It's a world I've worked on for a good while now, so apologies if it's a little involved.

1. Forum Rules apply, obviously. Just don't be a dick and we'll be fine.

2. An important factor in this universe is Magic. Magic is divided into four schools, but there are also other options if you wish to forego the use of it.

• Wizardry: Learned magic, Order magic. The most versatile of all magic, and among the hardest to learn. Wizardry is conducted using traditional spells and incantations; artifacts like spellbooks, wands, or staves are essential. Wizards are often one of the high class elites, and use their spells to create powerful, fantastic constructs. While many wizards specialize in specific schools of magic, some also choose to be general magicians; they can use a wide variety of spells but usually cannot learn the more powerful ones.
• Sorcery: Innate magic, Chaos magic. Sorcery is often extremely specialized, but it isn't discriminatory - anyone and everyone can be a sorcerer. Unlike wizardry, sorcery is conducted innately, without the use for catalysts or magic words. You can't use general magic with sorcery; but on the other hand you can achieve some incredible feats with it. Sorcerers often brand themselves as superheroes or magical girls, saving the worlds from devastation with their amazing powers
• Witchcraft: Bartered magic, Dark magic. You made a deal with a daemon or a dark god, and in return it granted you witchcraft. Though not always evil, witches are often shunned by society, and resort to keeping themselves in the shadows. Their magic is powered by the Darkness, an otherwordly entity with a will of its own. As such, witchcraft is very powerful, but can be very volatile. They can specialize in specific magicks, but they cannot use light- or fire-based magic, as witches burn at the slightest touch of either.
• Miraclework: Gifted magic, Light magic. Very rare for someone in this place, though far from unheard of. Miraclework is granted to devout followers of the Light Gods; and the specific types of miracles you get depends on the god of your choice. They often serve as priests in the temples, granting blessings to the common folk.
• Mutation: Not magic, quite the opposite in fact. Sometimes, whether by birth or through unethical genetic experiments, people experience a strong aversity to magic. Mutants are often magic-immune, and have other powers to prevent or protect themselves from the use of them. Like sorcery, it can fall upon anyone; mutants are often just regular Joes trying to live normal lives.
• None: If you don't have magic or mutation, you can choose up to three skills to give you an edge against magic users. You can have up to three skills: at least one combat-oriented and at least one non-combat-oriented. They don't need to equate to any DND skills.

3. When I talk about magic specialty, this refers to what specific magic powers you have. This can be anything from elemental kinesis to strength augmentation to super speed to changing the molecular structure of your skin. Just go wild with it. Specialties for miracle workers are unique in that their magic depends on the god they're devoted to, but you can go wild with this one too; anyone from Zeus to Marvel's Thor to Hatsune Miku are valid (though of course you can't follow a Dark or Old God; a Priest of Cthulhu would be considered more of a witch).

4. In the old game, races were categorized into geni based on their ancestry. Since it was a dice and numbers game, this was used to determine certain advantages; as this version won't be using that, you'll instead be asked to pick a homeworld from the three Living Realms. This'll help inform culture and backstory and the like.

• Earth: Or Terra as some call it. Home of Man. Inhabited mostly by humans, with very little magic. Magic does exist, but is usually hidden from society. Some areas are more accepting, but in many it is feared and misunderstood. Though it's averse to magical creatures, some find their dwelling here, making their way into myths and urban legends.
• Faewilds: Home of the Fae. All sorts of magical beings live here, from elves to pixies to everything in between. The faewilds are covered in lush forestry, with many societies living among nature, though that's not always the case, as technology is not completely unheard of. Faerie kingdoms can exist on all levels of creation - whether in the trees, the sky, underground, or even on the sea.
• Underland: Home of Monsters. Sapient creatures on the less humanoid end of the scale tend to find their home here. Orcs, goblins, manticores, and anthropomorphic animals all thrive in Underland. Much of society exists underground, connected by various tunnels and a bustling subway system. As monsters are the most varied of the three major geni, their cultures tend to vary wildly, and every major location can feel like a completely different world. The one unifying factor though is that monsters excel at physical prowess, and this shows in their sports and entertainment.
• You can be whatever race you want, but your homeworld will inform how your character understands the world and views their place in it.

5. Backstory and Personality are always the fun part. The conceit of the game of course, is that your character is dead, and in life was a sinner. This is a great place to establish character flaws and explain what brought them here. But keep in mind - your character won't remember their backstory at the start, worn down from ages in Purgatory as they are.

6. And of course, the Judge has used His omnipotent powers to grant you your own personal Sin. This is a living embodiment of the deadly vice you most embodied in life, and as such is unique to you. Your Sin can help or hinder you throughout your quest on a whim. In order to keep the game from getting too overwhelming, I'll be limiting signups to seven characters - one for each Sin. Of course, if someone takes the Sin you wanted, don't be discouraged. I'll keep signups open and determine which one to choose at the end. You can submit multiple sheets in case of this, but keep in mind you can only play one.

If you have any questions whatsoever please ask and I'll be happy to answer.

The Singup

• Name: Can be anything, no restrictions.
• Race and Homeworld: Please see The Rules for specifics on homeworlds; your race can be anything conceivable as long as it possesses at least a human level of intelligence.
• Magic: Please see The Rules for choices on Magic. It is optional; you can choose to go without magic, but you will need to come up with skills to make up for it.
• Specialty/Skills: Can be just about anything. You can opt not to choose a specialty. Skills are for non-magic users. Please see The Rules if you need any more info.
• Personality: Who is your character? How do their vices affect them? What flaws brought them here?
• Backstory: Who was your character? What did they do in life? How did they die?
• Hobbies/Profession: Go wild. This will help determine what equipment you start with.
• Deadly Sin: In case you aren't aware, the sins are: Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, and Pride.

Edited by Afterwards on Apr 13th 2023 at 7:10:00 AM

• Name: Prince Pontius Praetorius of House Peony
• Race and Homeworld: A Pixie, from the Kingdom of the Petrichor Pike, in the heart of the Faewilds
• Magic: Witchcraft
• Specialty/Skills: The Dark Arts, Monarchical Rule, Fencing
• Personality: Pontius craves, and craves deeply. From birth he has had to claw and crawl for every scrap of respect, and as a result he feels he’s gained very little. Conversationally, Pontius is proud, and puts up the front of a great leader. But in truth, he feels all he truly holds is an empire of dirt. Pontius is desperate to excel in whatever he can, leading to him often asserting himself in over his head. Though that’s the pain of Pontius. He could grasp excellence, and demand perfection.
• Backstory: Born as royalty to a race that figured themselves elite and prestigious, Pontius, left hemophiliac due to the practices of the royal family, was unfortunately born without magic; a major no-no in the fairy world. In order to function as the royal he had to be, at a young age, Pontius sold his soul to the Dark God L’meiga to gain dark powers. As a young ruler, he was ruthless in the pursuit of greater land and domination of any race that foolishly believed themselves superior. Fearful of Pontius’ rush to press the kingdom into a fight it couldn’t win, his own brother ordered Pontius’ assassination, performed by a “runaway” toad.
• Hobbies: Debate, Recreational Fencing, Risk
• Profession: The Crown Prince, and occasional ambassador to the other races of the Faewilds.
• Sin: Penvy

Edited by TacoBadger on Apr 12th 2023 at 4:47:52 AM

• Name: Dixon Fairchild. Project DXN-539. Ring name: "The Fixer."
• Race and Homeworld: Robot. Earth. 8'9". 1250 lbs. Looks like this.
• Magic: None.
• Skills: Exceptional combat prowess, with a specialty in hand-to-hand combat. Unparalleled tactical skill. Pretty damn good at ukulele playing.
• Personality: Dixon is terse, aloof and resolute. He's got a dry sense of humor and a weathered personality born out of years of living as an outlaw. Most of the time he refuses to let anyone see his softer side, but he has his moments. Naturally, he truly comes into his own when he's in a fight.
• Backstory:
  • TLDR: Spent his time on Earth as a bodyguard for the daughter of a rebellious hacker in a Bad Future, taking boxing fights for money and running from an evil corporate army. More here.
• Profession: Bodyguard and underground boxing contender.
• Hobbies: Enjoys tiny guitar tunes, beatboxing and drawing in a comically small journal (he's not great at art, but he's getting better).
• Sin: Wrath.

Edited by Tre on Apr 14th 2023 at 5:26:32 AM

Name: Sussus Amogus

Race and Homeworld: Human from earth

Magic: Wizardry (he is absolute shit at it.)

Specialty: Refilling wine goblets.

Personality: Spoiled young prince of a vast empire. Loves pissing people off. Hates having to deal with pissed off people.

Backstory: Died of heart failure

Hobbies/Profession: Asking his parents for money, socializing frequently whilst somehow managing to avoid actually getting anyone to like him, getting drunk

Deadly Sin: Pride

Edited by TropesForever on Apr 12th 2023 at 9:20:50 PM

Name: Immaculate Aqal

Race and Homeworld: Human, from Earth.

Magic: Miraclework

Specialty/Skills: His miraclework is based on devotion to various patron saints, who he venerates with small idol images on a necklace and names written upon his skin. The magic produced as a result, in this instance at least, basically manifests as a literal shield of faith to protect him and others from harm and allow healing depending on the circumstance. This does mean that if he doesn't have a patron saint in mind for this situation, however, he's forced to fight on his own terms.

Personality: Immaculate's very much a poet, seeing his actions through rose colored glasses, a feverent advocate for justice and equality and an end to the rule of those in power, and always having the best of intentions in mind for others at the expense of his own well being. Unfortunately for him, he often gets blinded by the percieved valor of what he does, making it very easy for him to cross the line in pursuit of his goals.

Backstory: Immaculate Aqal was a revolutionary in a past life. This past life, to be clear, the one he died in. He grew up disenfranchised on an island ruled by the iron grip of a large, foreign corporation, squeezing profit from the local people. He had promise though, he was intelligent and atheletic, he could have probably made his way into the company's ranks. But he refused to do, and at a young age, he decided to become one of the most feverent fighters against the people ruling him, taking stories of martyrs and saints long gone as his inspiration to fight.
He died young: shot in battle trying to protect a fellow insurgent who was barely a child.

Hobbies/Profession: Revolutionary. Hobbies include writing, shooting with rifles and other such guns, and speaking on a soapbox in the literal and metaphorical sense.

Deadly Sin: Lust

Edited by MadameButterflyKnife on Apr 12th 2023 at 1:27:35 PM

Is it OK to play as a Historical Domain Character in this RP? Got an idea for my character who happens to be a Historical figure. I'll make sure to modify them to differentiate from their IRL self and it won't be a super controversial/heinous figure (i.e dictators and serial killers).

P.S: If I'm allowed to play as a historical figure, can I call dibs on Gluttony?

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Apr 12th 2023 at 10:10:48 AM

• Name: Noé Carter, the Messenger
• Race and Homeworld: Vampiric courier fellow. Earth, AZ.
• Magic: Sorcerer.
• Specialty/Skills: Obfuscation and inhuman celerity; the ability to vanish between two blinks of an eye, and steal away unhindered in the next. Serves one well in a bind, so long as your biggest concern is running away from the results of your actions.
• Personality: Disgruntled, snark-filled, flippant - an agoraphobe in spite of any superficial oily persuasiveness. Something of a firecracker when he‘s not too busy being dragged through metaphorical cattle shit for a job, which isn’t often. Runs on a mind with little concern for ethical scruples.

• Hobbies/Profession: Shitlord techbro, the kind to carry a Pi hack wherever he goes; miscellaneous dabbling in hotwiring, lockpicking, and other basic skills he’s learned to use to scrape by
• Deadly Sin: Ever-relaxed attitude to the law, eyes averted to anyone running afoul of its consequences. He’ll hold onto his place in this world with a white-knuckle grip no matter what lows it takes him to: Greed.

Edited by unfortunatezorua on Apr 14th 2023 at 10:07:06 PM

sure thing! curious to see what u come up with :)

Name: Bob

Race and Homeworld: Human, Columbus OH

Magic: No magic.

Skills: Highly educated in the stuff in anime and gaming and the online world (not counting coding). Can get hit by trucks.

Personality: Just a guy who liked those kinds of things too much. Didn't touch grass since George H.W. Bush got elected.

Backstory: A weeb. Did nothing but watch anime and post on message boards since Usenet was invented (when he was around ~10.) Smelled like dogshit. Died when his sister opened the curtains to his room, viewing a post about anime.

Hobbies/Profession: Anime. Gaming. Internet. No job.

Deadly Sin: Sloth

Edited by Playing_with_boy on Apr 13th 2023 at 12:26:19 PM

Alright, looks like we've got one for each sin, so I'm gonna go ahead and close submissions. If anyone's interested in joining you can still apply, you'd just be put on a waitlist in case anyone drops out. I'll be making a Discussion thread shortly.

EDIT: Discussion here!

Edited by Afterwards on Apr 13th 2023 at 3:37:41 AM

• Name: Zelda Fitzgerald
• Race and Homeworld: Human (Earth)
• Magic: Sorcery
• Specialty/Skills:
  • Chaos Magic: Exactly what it says on the tin. It's a kind of Magic that's wild and unpredictable, powered by Zelda's chaotic nature. Zelda can use this to morph things into different shapes (albeit they'll return to their original form in time), manifest objects related to her hobbies, decadency, and sin, move things around, and with enough concentration and energy, she can screw with someone's mind (such as manipulating their memories or forcing visions onto them).to make them go crazy.
  • Decadency Magic: Whenever Zelda diverges in decadence (such as drinking, partying, spending excessively, showing off your wealth and so on), the stronger, faster, and durable she becomes. This goes in-hand with her Chaos Magic, as causing chaos counts as being decadent.
  • Special Ballet Slippers: A peculiar pair of ballet slippers that Zelda mysteriously acquired when she ended up in the Judge's game and is unable to remove for some reason (they're stuck to her feet). She doesn't recall when she got these slippers but they grant a very special ability; whenever Zelda taps her feet, she changes from a timid, confused, mentally-unwell middle-aged woman who'd seen better days◊ to a confident, extroverted, wild flapper in her twenties (albeit admittedly still mentally unwell)◊. In that form (called Zelda Prime), she has much better access to her Magic (as due to her default form's nature, she's barely able to access them) and is able to pull off remarkable feats with them. Zelda can stay in her Prime form for a couple hours before involuntarily returning to her original form. Upon returning to her default form, Zelda retains no memories of her time in her Prime form. In her Prime form, while she largely doesn't remember her time in her default form, she can still recognize faces and such.
• Personality:
  • In her default form, Zelda is just a very confused, scared middle-aged woman. She's timid and easily frightened and stressed. She's quite erratic and often has her head in the clouds, often saying things that only make half-sense. She also has a crappy memory and thus is quite forgetful. This is why she struggles to access her magic in her form; her mind's so fogged up that it makes it inconvenient to do even a single spell. She's insecure about the burn scars that are around her body (which she acquired upon arriving in the trial), mainly the torso and armpits, so she goes out of the way to cover them up. Whenever she gets stressed, she tends to panic and may lash out at people. In that state, she unconsciously taps her feet and…
  • In her Prime form, Zelda becomes a far more free-spirited, confident and outgoing woman as per the nature of Flappers. She's wild, preferring to cause chaos and having fun. Thus, you can find her magically generating alcohol and cigarettes as she casually decides to throw a party. Even with her rowdy nature, Zelda is still amicable and willing to do favors. She's also quite charismatic and charming. However, even in this form, Zelda can still be pushed to her limits mentally; when under great mental pressure (or just really drunk), she'll lash out at others and become heavily distressed, which tends to lead her to having mental breakdowns. In that state, she loses control over her magic as it goes haywire and has the potential to harm people during her breakdown.
• Backstory:
  • Zelda was born in 1900. She was a part of the Sayre family, a wealthy Alabamian clan of Sorcerers who mingle with the non-magical with the head of the clan being a lawyer. The Sayres' magic are said to originate from an ancestor banging a local goddess and siring a Sorcerer child from that union. When Zelda was young, the only training she had for her magic was the advice to "Have fun with it" and how to keep it secret from the non-magical folk. That was the training the rest of the Sayres had, so Zelda wasn't being unfairly treated. During her childhood and adolescent years, Zelda did just that; she often caused mayhem in her home city of Montgomery, Alabama, for the lols. She pulled magical pranks on people and put on dramatic shows of herself, while manipulating the memories of whoever watched so they can recall it being totally unmagical.
  • In 1918, when she was 18, Zelda met F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance. Even though he was a poor non-magical dude, they became smitten with each other. Scott proposed to Zelda but she initially held it off as he wouldn't be able to support her ideal extravagant lifestyle. Then, in 1920, Scott published This Side of Paradise, which was a best seller hit and they married, where they then moved to New York City (NYC). Scott would become one of the few non-magical folk aware of Zelda's magic as she felt comfortable enough to reveal it to him. They had a daughter, Scottie, in 1921; she was also a Sorcerer. During the early 1920s, Scott and Zelda were at the top of NYC's social circle. They partied and drank with the wealthy elite, and ended up in the news for their chaotic natures. From driving on top of taxis, jumping into water fountains, being disruptive at theaters and overall causing mayhem (helped by Zelda's magic). This was when Zelda began developing her Decadency Magic, which formed from all of the shit she was doing and got branded Gluttony as she wanted to drink more and party more. In 1923, Zelda decided to start her own speakeasy because she apparently preferred her magically created alcohol over the alcohol that normal bootleggers make.
  • The speakeasy was a success, with Zelda receiving numerous customers, which tend to consist of wealthy people. However, it drew away businesses from other speakeasies that were run by gangsters which pissed them off. One gangster in particular, a Witch named Nightshade. Nightshade knew that Zelda was a Sorcerer and was using her Magic to do bootlegging, thus he targeted her, as having a magical rival wouldn't do him good. One day, in 1924, he and his minions busted in Zelda's speakeasy, and began opening fire. Zelda attempted to defend herself using her Magic but Nightshade's Magic was far more powerful. The Fitzgeralds barely made it out of there alive and they fled to Paris.
  • During their time in Paris, Zelda became paranoid over Nightshade finding them while Scott became frustrated over what her Magic got them in and that she didn't do anything for Scottie's Magic beyond telling her to "Have fun with it" and teaching her how to hide it. He worried that Scottie's Magic might get them in further trouble and they began arguing over Magic in general, with Zelda's usual explanation for Scottie's (lack of) training being that it's how her family taught magic. These arguments led to their marriage deteriorating over time. Scott had an affair with a prostitute that led to Zelda throwing herself down the stairs. By 1927, they returned to America, being sure that Nightshade had forgotten about them, but their marriage had significantly broken down. They became alcoholics and they were miserable together.
  • In 1928, she picked up ballet, wanting to be a prima ballerina and became highly passionate about it. Even though she was too old to achieve such a dream, Scott paid for her ballet classes. They returned to Europe in the summer of that same year and Zelda resumed her ballet training there. In 1929, she was invited by the San Carlo Opera Ballet school to join them. In preparation, Zelda trained excessively and grueling, punishing her body to improve. Scott became concerned, as it seemed Zelda became quite obsessed with ballet, especially when he found her collapsed from physical and mental obsession that came from her training one day. Her mental state worsened as a couple months later, during a drive, she briefly lost control of her magic and it seized control of the wheel from Scott and nearly drove them off a cliff. In April of 1930, she had another breakdown that led to her magic lashing out and causing a blackout in the city she was living in and she attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Scott brought her to Prangins, considered one of the top mental facilities in Europe at the time. There she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia (said diagnosis is debated on whether or not it's accurate).
  • For the rest of her life, Zelda lived in and out of mental institutions, losing access to her magic overtime as she was subject to years of electroshock therapy which made her suffer memory loss and remove what was left of her original self. She began painting a lot and managed to publish one novel, Save Me The Waltz, which was essentially a fictionalized autobiography about her marriage, it initially pissed off Scott because he believed that she was copying a novel he was working on, Tender Is the Night, which was also based on their marriage. Scott moved to Hollywood where he'd had several affairs while Zelda was institutionalized and Scottie managed to do fine with her magic. Scott died of a heart attack in 1940 and Zelda wasn't able to attend his funeral due to her mental health. Then in 1948, the mental hospital she was in, the Highway Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, burned down. Zelda was heavily sedated, awaiting shock therapy, and was one of nine women who died in the fire.
  • In the afterlife, after God knows how long, Zelda was placed on trial. The Jury gave her an overview of her sins (but not telling her about her life in general) she has since long forgotten about, which overwhelmed her heavily. When she was in the Hall of Judgement, she freaked out and failed horribly. Zelda accepts the Judge's offer and the next thing she knows, she wakes up with a peculiar pair of ballet slippers that she can't just remove. She doesn't know where they came from or who gave it to her, but they're the key for her chances of winning the Judge's game.
• Hobbies/Profession:
  • Socialite
  • Painter
  • Writer
  • Dancer
• Deadly Sin: Gluttony

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Apr 13th 2023 at 10:54:19 AM